Russell Brand faces a significant custodial term after a jury convicted him of rape and three sexual assaults, leaving him in custody until he is sentenced on Monday.
Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC told jurors that the allegations made by six women had arisen independently of the 2023 Channel 4 documentary and reporting by The Times, and said the women had never met one another.
Brand, 51, denied the allegations during a four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court in London. They concerned six women and spanned 1999 to 2009, with alleged offences at his London townhouse, places where he performed and workplaces.
The allegations first became public in September 2023 through joint reporting by The Times, Sunday Times and Channel 4's Dispatches programme. Brand's defence said the women had gone to police years after the alleged assaults, following that reporting and documentary.
Karmy-Jones told the jury that the complainants had nothing to gain, had not sought publicity, had not taken part in documentaries and had not sought compensation. A prosecutor called Brand a “ruthless, calculating, manipulative sexual predator”.
The women described accounts with a similar course, beginning with compliments and flattery before what they described as a sudden change in his manner. Prosecutors said Brand treated consent as “just an obstacle to be removed, or perhaps to ignore.”
One conviction concerned a fan Brand met at a stand-up performance at the Hammersmith Apollo in early 2009. The woman told the court she had begged him to stop, saying: “I felt like I couldn't speak or breathe, the amount of pain.”
Brand was also convicted of assaulting an MTV worker by grabbing her breasts at a birthday party in Soho, London in 2004. The other convictions involved the assault of a woman at Choice FM in 2004 or 2005, and the assault of a Channel 4 worker who was made to give him a massage during a filming project in 2009.
In closing arguments on Friday, Karmy-Jones asked jurors to sit silently for 20 seconds, the period one woman said her encounter with Brand had lasted.
Brand gave evidence for four hours on Wednesday and told the jury: “I'm innocent.” He said he had been obsessed with sex when younger and had led an extremely promiscuous life, while maintaining that he had never forced anybody to do anything against their will. He also accepted that he had used fame to “facilitate sexual access”.
In his 2007 autobiography, My Booky Wook, Brand wrote: “Now if I want something — whether it's a job or a woman — I will determinedly, resolutely, remove anything that's in the way, until I possess the object of my desire.”
His wife, Laura Gallacher, gave character evidence on Thursday. She told the court that Brand is “a wonderful father to our children, and an amazing, attentive husband.”
The jury, made up of eight men and four women, deliberated for more than eight hours across two days before reaching unanimous verdicts. It convicted Brand of one rape count and three sexual assault counts, and cleared him of two rape counts and one count of attempted indecent assault.
Judge Joel Bennathan refused a request by Brand's barrister, Ian Winter KC, to grant bail over the weekend so he could say goodbye to his children. Brand was taken into custody immediately after the verdicts.
Bennathan said Brand would receive a prison term when he is sentenced on Monday. Brand also faces further rape allegations from two women, and police have submitted files to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Comments (0)